From getting beyond drunk at a friend's party, to some seriously questionable outfit choices, teenagers often do things that seem outlandishly stupid. But we now know why: the areas of the brain that control decision-making don't fully develop until early adulthood.

A teen's developing brain places them at greater risk of being reactive in their decision-making, and less able to consider the consequences of their choices. So how can parents help their teenagers learn and apply good decision-making skills?

The difference between what teenagers know and do

Most children demonstrate an understanding of "right" and "wrong" behaviour from an early age. As language develops, children are able to give clear reasons as to why certain behaviours are undesirable.

But children and teenagers have been found to be poor decision-makers if they feel pressured, stressed or are seeking attention from peers.

So it's reasonable to expect a 15-year-old to know they should not steal. But they are less adept at choosing not to steal in the presence of coaxing peers whom they wish to impress.

The difference between what teenagers know and what they choose can be explained in terms of "cold" and "hot" situations. Cold situations are choices made during times of low emotional arousal. During these periods, teenagers are able to make well-reasoned and rational decisions.

Hot situations refer to choices during periods of high emotional arousal (feeling excited, anxious, or upset).

Hot situations increase the chance of teenagers engaging in risk-taking and sensation-seeking behaviours, with little self-control or consideration of the possible consequences of their actions.

The impact of emotional arousal on decision-making explains why teenagers might discuss, for example, the negative consequences associated with drinking and drug-taking, but then engage in those very behaviours when with friends.

The biology of bad decision making in teens

Brain studies show the frontal lobe — which is responsible for decision-making, impulse control, sensation-seeking, emotional responses and consequential thinking — does not finish developing until our early-to-mid 20s.

The relationship between brain development and the risk of making poor choices, particularly during hot situations, is referred to as psychosocial maturity.

Research has shown youth aged 12 to 17 years are significantly less psychosocially mature than 18 to 23 years who are also less psychosocially mature than adults (24 and older).

Overall, teenagers' psychosocial immaturity makes them more likely to:

• seek excitement and engage in risk-taking behaviour

• make choices on impulse

• focus on short-term gains

• have difficulty delaying gratification

• be susceptible to peer pressure

• fail to anticipate consequences of their choices.

Helping teenagers make good decisions

Gradual increases in autonomy and practice with independent decision-making are vital for teenagers to become confident adults with good emotional and social well-being. Although parents know poor choices are part of becoming an adult, most want to protect their teenager from making very serious, or illegal, choices.

Good decision-making skills can be learned, and there are six key steps parents can employ to encourage better teen decision-making:

Homo sapiens, in our most "modern" form, have been roaming the earth for about 200,000 years now. 

But there's something rather special about the way our brains look today: human skulls are rounder, faces are smaller, and more retracted into the skull. It's different from the way our ancestors looked, more than a hundred thousand years ago.

And now, for the first time, scientists say they've pinpointed precisely when they believe we grew into our modern skulls.The blue brain shows the globular shape of present-day human heads. In contrast, the red skull shape of a Neandertal, like the earliest Homo sapien fossils, is elongated.Simon Neubauer, Philipp Gunz, MPI EVA Leipzig

Research published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances by a team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany says there's something distinct about the way our brains and skulls look now, and it likely developed around 40,000 years ago. 

Compared to our ancestors, the modern head shape features a bigger, rounder cerebellum (that's the area in the back of the brain, responsible for things like motor control and balance, as well as some memory and language). We also have more a bulging, rounded parietal lobe (which helps us orient, plan and pay attention), and smaller, more retracted faces than our predecessors.

The side walls of the brain became more parallel, the frontal area became taller, and the occipital area, in the back of the head, shifted to a rounder, less "overhanging" shape.

What's remarkable about the find is that our brain shape changes track almost perfectly with the development of modern behaviors, like carving tools, planning, developing self-awareness, languages and even the first cave drawings. In other words, that so-called "human revolution" of around 40,000 years ago, sometimes referred to as the "great leap forward" happened right around the time we were getting comfy in our newer skulls. 

As the researchers point out, this didn't all happen overnight, but instead was the result of tens of thousands of years of slight changes. They can't say for sure yet when our brains made the switch, but they're pretty sure it was "at some point after about 100,000 years ago and probably before 35,000 years ago."

Using 3-D scanning techniques to examine curves, shapes and features of 20 different homo sapien fossils, ranging from 300,000 years to 10,000 years old, the researchers have developed a groundbreaking theory: our modern ways would probably not have been possible without our rounder, more elegant brains.

"It is important to note that it is probably not the globular brain shape itself that is advantageous for brain function,"  Simon Neubauer, the anthropologist who led the research, told Business Insider in an email. Instead, he says the rounder features that develop in humans' first few months of life are simply "related to our [modern] behavior," but not causing it. 

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It's not a bird, a plane, or Superman. That shiny, shimmering object suddenly sparkling in the night sky is a satellite launched by Rocket Lab, the latest edition to a growing cadre of space businesses.

On Sunday, the California-based company hoisted what it is calling the "Humanity Star" onto one of its rockets and launched the 65-sided geodesic sphere into orbit from New Zealand.

The idea behind the highly-reflective, disco-ball like object is that it will be a new focal point for everyone on Earth, according to Peter Beck, Rocket Lab's CEO.

“No matter where you are in the world, or what is happening in your life, everyone will be able to see the Humanity Star in the night sky," Beck said in a statement. "My hope is that all those looking up at it will look past it to the vast expanse of the universe and think a little differently about their lives, actions and what is important for humanity."

Made from carbon fiber and festooned with 65 mirrored triangular panels, the Humanity Star will shimmer and spin as it makes its sojourn around the planet every 90 minutes. The giant disco ball will meet its fiery death nine months later as it crashes back into Earth's atmosphere.

Rocket Lab launching the Humanity Star into orbit. Rocket Lab

The sparkly new addition to the night sky will also draw attention to Rocket Lab, a company that's only recently begun to make a splash in the global space industry. Founded more than a decade ago by Beck, an aerospace engineer and New Zealand native, Rocket Lab is backed by Silicon-Valley based venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and aerospace firm Lockheed Martin.

Unlike SpaceX and Blue Origin, which are competing to build large rockets capable of delivering big payloads into orbit, Rocket Lab aims to build smaller rockets that are equipped to send tiny packages — all for a lower cost than the alternative.

If it works, it could fill what many experts say is a growing and unmet void in the global space industry.

Rocket Lab isn't alone in the venture. In March, Richard Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, launched spin-off company Virgin Orbit to focus on quickly and cheaply launching smaller satellites into orbit.

"It's been clear to me that there's been something changing," Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit's president, told Space.com last spring. "I've really admired a lot of the bold moves that have gone on in the industry over the last five to 10 years, where people are doing commercially what was once only done with large, large government-funded programs."